Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) (9 page)

She slid across the cement in something
slimy and let out a pathetic yelp.

The voice continued to berate her for her
stupidity as her rescuer walked back and forth in the darkness. “You helped
them instead of yourself.”

She kept quiet and let her eyes adjust to
the lack of light. It took almost a minute, but light trickled down through a
hole in the ceiling, circular like a manhole. After a few more seconds, she saw
rungs in the wall near her and made out that the top of the manhole was
partially blocked. From this distance, she could see part of a wheel and the
undercarriage of a car up there.

Now that she could see, she stood and
glanced over to spot Teague only a few feet away, his chest heaving in anger,
his hands clenched into fists. The look he shot her was pure disgust.

Had Teague just saved her? Why?

Before she dwelt on those thoughts too
long, she took another look at her surroundings. She decided to wait before she
called him savior. Right now, since she couldn’t find an exit, he was her
captor.

“Teague.”

Like a flash, he closed the distance
between them and pressed her into the ladder rungs. His forearm barred across
her chest, preventing her from moving. He held his other hand over her mouth.

“Don’t speak. Don’t you dare say my
name.” His eyes blazed as he glared at her, but something was wrong with them.
It was like they couldn’t decide on what color they were. Shifting between a
furious gray and an even angrier blue. He looked pained, and he momentarily
released the pressure on her.

Mina lifted her hand to gently brush
across his arm.

He inhaled in a quick hiss and jerked at
her touch. He was shaking he was so furious.

But he pushed her against the ladder
again. The back of her head connected with the upper rung, sending blinding
arrows of light into her vision. His arm pressed harder into her body, making
another rung dig deeper into her shoulder blade.

Tears formed at the corner of her eyes,
and she lashed back in anger. “Get away from me, you freak!”

His lips formed a cruel smile as he
leaned forward to whisper into her ear. “I could have let you die up there. In
fact, I’m not altogether of one mind why I didn’t…Oh, that’s right. You have
something I want.” He took his free hand and gently stroked the side of her
cheek, running his fingers over her lips. The move sent an unwilling shiver
through her until his fingers moved under her chin. “I want that dagger.”

“Even if I had it, I wouldn’t give it to
you,” she spat out. She pushed against him to escape, but his fingers dug
deeper into her throat, cutting off her air.

“Tsk tsk tsk,” he clicked his tongue. “I
thought you would have heeded my warning. I told you your friends aren’t safe
if you don’t give me the dagger.”

“It
was
you that attacked Brody.”

“I thought it pertinent to give you
another warning, to show you I mean business. But it will be your last.” He
pushed away and turned his back on her.

“No, leave my friends out of this. You
have no right to bring them into our fight.”

“You are the one doing that. You’re
endangering your friends, not me.”

“That’s an outright lie and you know it.
You have been controlling me from the very beginning with your games.”

“Mina, if you don’t want to play my
games, I’m okay with ending this here and now and moving on to the next Grimm.
Your brother.” He turned to face her, and his eyes looked almost black in the
shadows. Something invisible tightened around her neck.

“N-n-no,” she stuttered, struggling
against the magic. Fear raced through her. Never before had Teague been so
violent with her. Threatened her?—yeah. Tried to kill her through quests?—plenty.
But before, she’d thought she was his equal.

She used to be able to play the games and
win, but this was someone new. This was the Teague who threatened to tear the Fae
kingdom apart. The one who frightened the Fates and forced their hand. This wasn’t
the Jared she knew or the Story. It was true: divided Teague was manageable.

This wasn’t a case of Jekyll and Hyde.

This was Hyde on steroids. The person who
stood before her was terrifying, and he was going to kill her.

She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t inhale,
and she felt herself starting to black out. “Puh-please,” Mina choked out.

“You’re the only one who stands in my
way.”

“Mina?” Nan’s voice echoed faintly from
above her. “Mina, where are you?”

Teague clearly savored watching her
writhe under his power. At the sound of Nan’s voice, he turned to listen and
released some of the pressure on her throat.

It was enough that Mina could gasp for
air. Which then set off a round of coughing.

Teague looked irritated and moved away
from her. Mina fell to her knees as she gathered her strength. “Pathetic,”
Teague taunted, staring up at the trickles of light that came from above. Police
sirens increased in volume, coming to the scene.

“Why don’t you just kill me?” Mina stood
up straight to challenge him, her hands splayed at her sides.

“I keep wondering that myself.” He turned
to square off against her, his hands clasped behind his back as if waiting for
her to make the first move. “What can you accomplish with no Grimoire to do all
of your dirty work for you? You have nothing in your arsenal but a pretty
face—and a lying one at that.”

“Mina, are you down there?” This time it
was Ever, who had either heard something or figured out that she’d gone down
the manhole into the sewer. Ever’s hand squeezed through the opening the light shone
through.

“I have enough to fight the likes of you,”
Mina challenged.

Teague sighed, “You’re all talk, and I’m
becoming bored. I’m done with you and your pretty little threats to stop me.”
He started toward her with his hands aimed at her throat.

Mina had no clue to what Teague was
referring, but she was scared she was about to die. Desperate to save herself,
she tried to use the power she had so little control over. Harnessing what she
could, she thrust it all toward him.

Teague flew across the room and cracked
his skull into the wall, going limp. Mina used her chance to climb up the rungs
toward Ever’s voice.

“Don’t go up there,” he growled from
below.

“I’m here!” Mina thrust her hand through
a small opening between the chassis of the truck and the wheel. She waved her
hand in the air and almost started crying when Ever’s hand took hold of it.

“I’ve got you, Mina. I’ll get you out. I
promise.” Ever called. Mina believed her.

Something grasped her ankle and started
pulling her back down. Mina cried out when Teague’s hands began to pull on her
legs. He was trying to make her fall.

“Ever! Don’t let go!” Mina yelled,
wrapping her left arm around the rung. It was useless, she knew. She couldn’t
squeeze out of the opening, and she was trapped underground. Her mind had a sudden
moment of clarity. This was so much like her underwater dream. Had she seen the
future?

 
“Mina!” Ever cried, when Mina’s hand
started to slip through her grasp. Teague had crawled up to the rung behind her
and was yanking on her other arm. She knew how this would end.

In her dream she didn’t make it to the
surface, so she doubted she would now.

“It’s okay, just take care of Nan. Take
care of Nan,” Mina called.

Teague reached up and yanked her arm from
around the rung, pulling her backwards. They both lost their footing.

She was falling and Teague was falling
with her. The last thing Mina saw was Ever trying to look through the wreckage
into the hole. She knew the moment Ever must’ve seen Teague, because she
screamed. “
Nooo
!”

Chapter 11

She was lying on something soft that
smelled faintly of cat urine. “Gross,” Mina grumbled. She rolled over to see
that she was resting on a yellowed mattress in an old abandoned runoff tunnel.
It took a moment for her eyes to focus on the blob of movement by her foot. She’d
thought at first it was an old towel—until it moved toward her. She
screamed and kicked at the rat sniffing at her shoes, making it scurry away.

Mina sat up and ran her hands across her
body for injuries. Had she blacked out? Had she hit her head? Something
disturbed a can, and it rolled over by her foot. She jumped to her feet and
prepared to run, but Teague stepped out of another tunnel. A light that came
from behind her faintly illuminated him. This time he kept his distance from
her.

He seemed to be in an odd mood, simply
studying her face silently. His eyes softened as he cleared his throat and
looked away from her. “That runaway garbage truck wasn’t me.”

“What? You didn’t try to run me over?
That wasn’t part of your quest?”

He shook his head no.

“So why warn me? Why save me?” she said
irritably.

“Because you haven’t finished the next
quest that I’ve set up for you. And this one is the most important of all
stories. I am especially partial to the ending.”

“Yeah, me too. Because one day her prince
will come and they’ll live happily ever after.” She tested the waters to see
what he had up his sleeve.

He laughed. “Come on, Mina, you know
there’s no such thing. The day
your
prince comes will be your worst nightmare. For I will make you bow down and beg
for your life.”

“You’re wrong. One day I will have a
happy ending. It will be the day that you’re dead.”

“I know, Mina. I know. You’ve tried your
best. But I’m not done with you yet.”

“I’m done playing along.”

“No, you’re not. Soon you’ll bow to me
and beg for your life.”

“You are not ruler of the human plane,
Teague.”

“And I don’t plan on ruling the human
plane. I plan on destroying this one.”

“Why?” Mina asked, shivering at the chill
that crept into her veins at his merciless tone. “What do you have against
humans?”

“You ask why?” Clearly, he believed his
reason to be obvious. “Humans are shallow liars and thieves. They are emotionally
fickle, which is fun for the Fae to feed on, but they leave a sour feeling in
my stomach.”

“Teague, don’t do this. You don’t have to
be evil.” Mina moved toward his dark figure and paused within a few feet of
him. She could see that she made him nervous. His eyes kept flickering to her neck,
probably remembering the pain he’d inflicted on her with his hand. As if he
couldn’t trust himself with her. If he felt guilt, then maybe there was a way
to reason with him. “You can be good.”

“I was…once. But being good didn’t really
work out for me. Being nice and gentlemanly didn’t give me what I wanted.” He
met her eyes and she thought his expression saddened for a split second. “So
now I just take what I want. And right now I want the dagger.”

“Teague,” Mina cried out in frustration.
“I don’t have it. I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me!” Teague roared at her
and rushed toward her again.

Mina raised her hands, trying to mimic
what she’d done earlier and push him away with power. But she was too scared.

He closed the distance between them but
didn’t raise a hand to touch her. “I know you have it. I’ve waited for so long.
Jared didn’t think it was you. He tried to convince me I had the wrong
girl—that I was mistaken, but I’m not. I know it’s you. You haven’t
changed. After your next tale is over you will give to me. Or I will hurt your
friends and start sending the quests after your brother and your mother.”

“I thought only one Grimm at a time could
complete the quests,” Mina said.

Teague just smirked. “Silly Mina, why do
you think the Fae Guild exists all over the world? Why do you think the
Godmothers watch all the Grimms from their little mirror room? I’ve toyed with
all of them at one time or another. But there was only one Grimm I ever cared
about.”

She knew which Grimm he meant. Whichever
one the Grimoire presented itself too. Because he needed his other half—he
needed Jared.

He turned his back on her and walked
away. “But you’ve always been a deceiver, and I’ve never been one to play by
the rules,” Teague continued before disappearing down another tunnel, leaving
her alone in the dark. His voice echoed back to her. “Neither have you, Mina.”

What in the Fae plane was he talking
about? Mina’s hand brushed her aching throat, and every part of her wanted to
break down and cry. But she couldn’t at this moment. She needed to get out of while
she could. Teague had left a small flashlight on the stain-covered mattress.
She had no desire to think on the sources of those stains. Instead, she needed
to focus on escape.

Thankfully, the flashlight clicked on.
Its bright beam of light sent even more rats scurrying for safety. Alarmed, she
made a little noise in her throat and pain shot through it. It was probably
best if she didn’t do that again.